Put-in-Bay Island Diary January 2025

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Island Diary January 2025

WED., JAN. 1ST – It’s New Year’s Day on the island and while many islanders are nursing a New Year’s Eve “hangover,” Brian and Justine Cultice are having a gathering at their house on Jeris Lane. Those present represent the Reel Bar, Forge, Brewery, Cameo Pizza and Bodee’s Bungalow. Over on Pelee there’s a polar plunge experience to celebrate the new year.

THU., JAN. 2ND – It’s the last day of ferry service for Miller Boat Line. Dozens of pro- spective fishermen are downtown getting their 5-gallon buckets filled with minnows brought over on the ferry by A-N-J Bait & Tackle from Port Clinton. It is estimated around 100,000 minnows were bought to fill everyone’s minnow cars. There are about 1,200 minnows in each gallon.

FRI., JAN. 3RD – Intermittent snow squalls and wind make flying off the island dif- ficult in the morning. The island is well covered in snow by the end of the day.

SAT., JAN. 4TH – Temperatures in between 20 and 25 degrees with northwest winds with knots in the same range make for a cold day. Jake and Renee Market host a “Halfway to 4th of July” party at their home on Squaw Harbor in the evening. They even had Ty Win- chester on hand to light up the night sky with fireworks shot off from Oak Point! The Browns Backers are at Topsy Turvey’s for a rare Saturday game. A group from Port Clinton is having a bonfire on North Bass while celebrating Steve Gulas’ birthday.

SUN., JAN. 5TH – Ice is forming around the island, especially in the harbor. It looks like people will be on the ice fishing by the end of the week.

MON., JAN. 6TH – PIB School students return to classes after their two week winter break. The Put-in-Bay Webcams are showing a fantastic formation of ice crystals along the West Shore by the Kasper Shiphouse.

TUE., JAN. 7TH – Kevin Dailey celebrates his 60th birthday. It is announced that the annual Kurt Rohrbacher Memorial Ice Fishing Tournament will be held on February 8th this year. Fingers crossed for better ice than in recent years. “Island Survivor” Season Two hosts their first episode in the evening. Fourteen Put-in-Bay residents gathered to begin their win- ter long competition. This year’s teams are named Tigress and Caledonia. There’s lots of ice around the islands and the harbor is locked in.

WED., JAN. 8TH – Griffing Flying Service announces their Kroger grocery delivery service is back for the winter season. Deliveries will begin the following Wednesday. El- ementary students have their All Star Basketball game after school. Dart League starts at Topsy in the evening.

THU., JAN. 9TH – The post office is closed for the day in honor of recently deceased former President Jimmy Carter. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church also honors President Carter by tolling their bell 39 times. The first ice shanty of 2025 is spotted off of the ice ramp off the West Shore. Once again, Travis Kowalski wins the award for the first person to venture out onto the ice. Aaron “Vern” Schroeder is the guest on Chuck Earls’ pro walleye fishing pod- cast. He discusses Lake Erie’s Ice fishing secrets and the 100,000 emerald shiners Put-in-Bay anglers have prepped and ready for the incoming ice.

FRI., JAN. 10TH – The “PIB Ice Guides” Jeff Bast and Shawn Dages are getting shan- ties set on the ice off the West Shore. Bobbi Dobos announces she will be running the FedEx freight room for Griffing at the new airport terminal baggage room. Hours will be Monday through Thursday from 12 to 4 p.m. Residents of Chapman Road are without power for several hours. The Forge is having a walleye fish fry in the evening. Everyone seems to be in the walleye spirit this week! There’s a PIB School staff party at the Yacht Club and they participate in a game of trivia.

Put-in-Bay Quick Links

• Things To Do At Put-in-Bay
• 2025 Put-in-Bay Event Calendar
• Our Favorite Places To Eat At PIB
• Put-in-Bay Ferry Service

SAT., JAN. 11TH – PIB Panther Basketball has their games cancelled for the morning. They decide to scrimmage a team made up of island residents.

SUN., JAN. 12TH – Andy Mohn celebrates his 35th birthday. There’s a group of island kids sledding at Lakefront Farm on East Point. Taylor’s Tae Kwon Do and Dance classes start back up for winter. Rob LaSota and Jon Linhart from Middle Bass take out Rob’s airboat searching for a good ice fishing spot, but are unsuccessful. Someone seriously asks on Social Media if the ice is thick enough for cars to drive across the lake from PIB to the mainland. Simple answer: No! A “drift” of approximately 130 Snow Buntings is spotted near the South Bass Island airport. Susan Harrington located the flock, and Elizabeth Heineman and Sandy Funtal took photographs. Snow Buntings breed in the high Arctic among rocks where their black and white plumage blends in. This time of year they visit Ohio and are in rusty and white plumage to blend in with the grass, snow, & soil of fields. The airport is a good place to see them! The light-house on Pelee Island starts to belit up from 6 to 8 p.m. for several evenings. The trail to it is also lit.If you know anything about their light, this is very impressive.

MON., JAN. 13TH – While waiting on ice for fishing, there is still lots of beauty here on the is- land! One islander saw about a dozen American Robins and European Starlings drinking water from a crack in the ice near shore.

TUE., JAN. 14TH – Pinky Batt from the Goat Biergarten celebrates his 70th birthday. From her home on the lake, Sharon Cox spots two eagles flying around over the ice eyeing a coyote or a dog. Nature at its best.

WED., JAN. 15TH – Looking ahead, there’s some cold weather forecast, but after that temps will be quite above normal. Ice fishers may only have a short window to fill their freezers.

THU., JAN. 16TH – Eric Booker is at the Progressive Cleve- land Boat Show with a crew from the Boardwalk serving the Board- walk’s famous lobster bisque. Others at the Boat Show over the weekend are Anne Spettel and Laurie Utterberg from Sun Stoppers, Agnes Dubbert and Carter Pugh from the Crew’s Nest, Pyrates Bob and Mary Kansa, Wendy Chambers and Paul Jeris from the Chamber of Commerce. Robert Solon counts 22 ice shanties out on the ice off the West Shore. Dustin Heineman is at Heineman Winery filtering Sweet Belle wine.

FRI., JAN. 17TH – The PIB Panthers play a scrimmage against a team of Islanders. Put-in-Bay Yacht Club Members are at the Fair- field-Marriott in Port Clinton having their Winter Doldrums social time. J.F. Walleye’s opens on Middle Bass.

SAT., JAN. 18TH – Rain in morning turns to light snow. PI- BYC Members at the Winter Doldrums party in Port Clinton are at the Camp Perry Conference Center for meetings. Girl Scout Troop #10828 hosts a Family Night at the Movies at 5 p.m. in the Town Hall. The $5 admission to see “Wonka” includes a bag of popcorn. The PIB Vol. Fire Dept. holds a carryout-only spaghetti dinner fundraiser.

SUN., JAN. 19TH – Chris and Joy Cooper are out ice skating with their daughters Meredith and Rachel on the makeshift ice rink between the Boardwalk and the Village’s A-Dock.

MON., JAN. 20TH – Beautiful day to fly to the islands, but there is still some open water in the channel between the Lime Kiln and Catawba. There’s a report that some of the ice around South Bass Island is around 10 inches thick. Bill Blumen- saadt, PIBHS Class of 1983, celebrates his 60th birthday. Islanders gather to watch The Ohio State Buckeyes defeat Notre Dame in the college football championship.

putinbay.com Top Lodging Picks For 2025 At The Bay

TUE., JAN. 21ST – There’s no school due to cold weather. At sunset it is 3 degrees with a feels-like negative 17 degrees. The next few days of cold should help solidify the ice off the state park dock which is still a little sketchy, but the 10-day forecast has “normal” temperatures returning next week. The new long range maps are even warmer to start the first week of February. Tom Thanasiu is sailing his ice boat “Cheapskate” in the harbor. He reports a third of the bay is “unsailable” and the rest is a little rough.

WED., JAN. 22ND – The real temperature drops below zero degrees at 1 a.m. and continues to drop until 7 a.m. when it bottoms out at -2.4 degrees. School is cancelled once again due to cold weather. The temp rises slowly during the day.

THU., JAN. 23RD – A heat wave hits the Bay! Almost 20 degrees for the high. WOW! It has been 3 years since there has been this much ice on Lake Erie. More than 80% of the lake is covered. Tom Thanasiu is out ice boating in the Bay and says anyone interested in ice boating should stop at the yacht club ‘cause it’s a good day to learn. He also learns a lesson when his ice boat goes out of control while he’s videoing a run through the Bay. Island Hardware & Market gets a load of produce in.

FRI., JAN. 24TH – Put-in-Bay Yacht Club is hosting their first “Chopped Challenge” in the evening. Dallas Mohn from the Crew’s Nest, Drew Holcepl from the Boathouse and Launce Saunders from Miller Boat Line go head to head creating original dishes to be vot- ed on by the crowd. After the final votes are tallied Drew takes home the crown with his goat cheese pancake.

SAT., JAN. 25TH – Dona Mitchell is at the yacht club selling off some of the fresh fruits and veggies that weren’t used in the Island Chopped Championship event the night before. There are kale, spinach, aru- gula, cabbage, egg plant, strawberries, blue berries, apples, bananas and potatoes to name a few. With a tem- perature just shy of 30 degrees, Anne Auger and Marsha Parker open the Resale Shop for a couple of hours in the afternoon. A group from PIB heads over the ice to Walleye’s on Middle Bass. The run celebrated Rob Mohn’s life. Doing things like this was one of Rob’s favorite things to do. The first annual Friends of the Bay from Putinbay.com is a smashing success! Bob Gatewood puts on a show for about 400 people on a cloudless sunny day at Margaritaville, Ft. Myers Beach.

SUN., JAN. 26TH – The 2025 Annual Meeting is part of the morning service at St. Paul’s Episco- pal Church. There are three Vestry seats up for election. Parish members nominated for the Vestry are Val Chornyak, Ruth Scarpelli and Sarah Toole. Elections are conducted after the Nicene Creed, and the new Vestry members are installed just before Holy Communion. In the “Crazy The Things To Do On The Ice” category, Eric Booker from the Boardwalk takes the driftwood mermaid from the Keys out onto the ice in the Bay and has a “Mermaid Burning Party.”

MON., JAN. 27TH – The younger students at PIB School enjoy their “All Star“ basketball champion- ship game. The blue team pulls off the victory against the white team. Afterwards, the week-long cheer camp takes place in the gymnasium.

TUE., JAN. 28TH – The temperature on PIB hits almost 40 degrees. There are two large cracks de- veloping at the ice ramp on West Shore and “Vern” and Rob Hard try their best to construct a wooden ramp to get people safely on and off the ice. Kids are ice skating in the harbor by the Boardwalk after cheer camp practice.

WED., JAN. 29TH – The South Passage opens up, but there are still a lot of ice fishermen going on the ice at Stone Cove. There are still a lot of fishermen fishing off the West Shore. There’s no school in the afternoon as parents meet with teachers for student conferences.

THU., JAN. 30TH – It’s “Minion Day” at PIB School for spirit week. Fourth grader Teddy Koehler is celebrating his 10th birthday.

FRI., JAN. 31ST – Dense fog covers the island for most of the morning. The Panther night basketball is canceled. Put-in-Bay Yacht Club has a pizza and wing delivery at dinner time.

Putinbay.com is proud to present the Put-in-Bay Gazette’s Island Diary for January 2025, in the March 2025 issue of the Gazette.

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